Roy Harper must be one of Britain's most undervalued rock musicians and songwriters. For over fifty years, he has produced a series of innovative albums of consistently outstanding quality, putting poetry and social commentary to music in a way that extends the boundaries of rock music. His 22 studio albums and 16 live albums, made up of 250 songs, have created a unique body of work.Roy is a musician's musician. He is lauded by the likes of Dave Gilmour, Ian Anderson, Jimmy Page, Pete Townsend, Joanna Newsom, Fleet Foxes and Kate Bush. Who else could boast that he has had Keith Moon, Jimmy Page, Dave Gilmour, John Paul Jones, Ronnie Lane, Chris Spedding, Bill Bruford and Steve Broughton in his backing band? Notable albums include Stormcock, HQ and Bullinamingvase.Opher Goodwin, Roy's friend and a fan, guides the reader through every album and song, providing insight into the recording of the songs as well the times in which they were recorded. As his loyal and often fanatical fans will attest, Roy has produced a series of epic songs and he remains a raging, uncompromising individual.
Opher Goodwin is the author of many books on rock music and science fiction. He taught the first 'History of Rock Music' classes in the UK. Opher was fortunate to spend the sixties in London, the epicenter for the underground explosion of rock music and culture, where he was able to see everyone from Pink Floyd, Hendrix and Cream to the Doors, Captain Beefheart and, of course, Roy Harper. He befriended Roy in 1967 and has not only attended hundreds of gigs but was a privileged guest In Abbey Road studios for the recording of some of Roy's seminal albums. He lives in East Yorkshire, UK.
First released on the CBS label in 1967
Personnel:
Shel Talmy: producer
Roy Harper: guitar and various instruments. Writer of all the songs Laurie Allan: drums
Keith Mansfield: strings
Bert Jansch: liner notes
Lippa Pearce: cover design
A second album is often difficult. Musicians perfect the songs they use in their live act and select the best for their first album. When it comes to the second, they are often short of good material. However, that was not the case for Roy. Far from running short of ideas, his second album teems with new concepts and strong songs. It even features Roy’s first long epic: ‘Circle’.
Perhaps CBS had heard something in Roy’s Strike recordings and heard about his live performances, or perhaps his manager – Joe Lustig – just talked a good talk. Either way, they decided that Roy was worth taking a punt on. Hoping that he would come up with chart material, they brought in American producer Shel Talmy, who had previously worked with The Who and The Kinks, amongst others, and was really an expert at creating singles. Singles were not what Roy was about: he was an album singer-songwriter who mainly worked acoustically. Roy and Shel were not the ideal combination. In an interview with the magazine, Musoscribe, Shel described working with Roy: ‘Roy Harper was difficult. The word that comes to mind is … truculent’. Talmy didn’t deny Harper’s talent, but the two men’s approaches were at odds: ‘Whenever I record anybody, I generally have a little chat: ‘Do you guys want to sell records, or do you just want to sit there and wank in the dark or something?’. Talmy said that he liked making records that would sell and that when makingCome Out Fighting Ghengis Smith, Harper ‘probably wasn’t particularly interested (in that), and we battled. But we got ‘round to it’.
I can well imagine. Roy does not do compromise. He knows what he wants, and it’s all about artistic integrity. He’s not interested in producing hit singles and wants to produce good music. Even so, somehow, the pair formed a working relationship that resulted in a superb album.Come Out Fighting Ghengis Smith was released in 1967, along with two singles, neither of which had The Beatles at all worried.
In 1991, the album was re-released on Andy Ware’s Awareness Records, in an expanded form containing a strange assortment of bonus tracks, all of which will be reviewed later with the appropriate albums. These were ‘Zaney Janey’: an outtake fromFolkjokeopus, that appeared on the American album along with ‘Ballad Of Songwriter’, in place of the
